The Utility of Biomarkers in the Diagnosis and Therapy of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Fecal and serologic biomarkers can be used in the diagnosis and management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Fecal markers such as calprotectin and lactoferrin have been studied for their ability to identify patients with IBD, assess disease activity, and predict relapse. Antibodies against Saccharomyces cerevisiae and perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic proteins have been used in diagnosis of IBD, to distinguish Crohn's disease (CD) from ulcerative colitis, and to predict the risk of complications of CD. Tests for c-reactive protein and erythrocyte sedimentation rate have been used to assess inflammatory processes and predict the course of IBD progression. Levels of drug metabolites and antibodies against therapeutic agents might be measured to determine why patients do not respond to therapy and to select alternative treatments. This review addresses the potential for biomarker assays to improve treatment strategies and challenges to their use and development.

Prevalence of Anemia and Iron Deficiency in Romanian Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: a Prospective Multicenter Study

“…CRP > 5 mg/L) in patients with CD as opposed to patients with UC (p < 0.01) (Table III). This data is in accordance with a study which demonstrates an association between active IBD, especially CD, and high CRP levels in 40-80% of patients [12]. However, this data does not translate into a significantly higher prevalence of anemia in CD as opposed to UC (p=0.19) (Table III).…”

Soluble Syndecan-1: Does This Biomarker Address a Seemingly Insoluble Problem in Inflammatory Bowel Disease?

“…Yet, the use of these invasive diagnostic procedures can be limiting with regard to monitoring disease activity and assessing disease severity during the treatment, recovery, and remission phases of the disease. There is therefore a need to identify new specific disease biomarkers that do not rely on invasive investigations for diagnosis [5][6][7][8][9].…”

Fecal Lactoferrin, Fecal Calprotectin, Transforming growth factor-b1, and CRP in Evaluation of Disease Activity in Egyptian patients With Ulcerative colitis

“…During intestinal inflammation neutrophils infiltrate the mucosa and markedly increase LF levels that can be readily measured in feces or gut lavage fluid [16,17]. Studies evaluating lactoferrin in the diagnosis of IBD show that it exhibited similar performance to fecal calprotectin and correlated better than C-reactive protein with mucosal inflammation by endoscopy [18][19][20].…”

“…Calprotectin is a calcium-and zinc-binding S 100 family of proteins that inhibits metalloproteinase, has antifungal activity and induces apoptosis in cell culture [20,21,22]. It makes up about 5% of the total protein content in the neutrophil and about 60% of the cytosolic proteins (23).…”